4 Reasons Why Cardio Makes You Fatter, Not Flatter

You’ve been pounding on and on at the gym, doing the most effective cardio exercises you could think of. But after a point of time, you notice that your exercises aren’t really working as you had expected. What could be the reason behind this? Some experts believe that cardio makes you gain weight. While cardio may not directly result in weight gain, there are a few ways it could negatively affect your fat loss efforts. Here are certain conditions under which cardio can make you fatter as opposed to flatter.

1. Excessive Cardio Intensifies Hunger

You might have noticed that after a long cardio session, you badly crave for food. Doing too much cardio can intensify your hunger, which leads to increased food intake and eventually result in fat gain. You may not necessarily crave for fatty foods, but you generally eat more when you’re hungrier. This means your weight loss efforts wouldn’t really pay off as you had expected.

2. Certain Diets Don’t Complement Certain Types Of Cardio

Some people pile on their protein and carb intake just because they’ve started working out. This is a huge mistake especially if you’re doing only low to moderate intensity cardio. These exercises do not damage your muscles or deplete your energy stores so significantly. So instead of being utilized as fuel or helping you build muscles, your increased intake of proteins and carbs will pile on inside your body in the form of fat. This means it only works on increasing your weight. High-protein, high-carb diets are only meant for bodybuilders and fitness enthusiasts whose focus isn’t geared towards weight loss but more on building muscle mass.

3. Cardio Isn’t As Effective For Fat Loss Once You Adapt

While aerobic-style cardio may significantly help beginners in losing weight, you won’t experience the same effect if you have been working out for some time. As you work out regularly, your body adapts to the exercises and learns how to utilize its energy and oxygen supply more efficiently. This means you’ll be burning fewer calories than someone who is new to the exercise. Simply put, cardio makes your body learn how to conserve energy to sustain longer workouts. Weight training does exactly the opposite.

4. Cardio Make Fat Loss Even More Complicated If You Are Already Suffering From Chronic Stress

People suffering from chronic stress often have elevated levels of cortisol in their bodies, already. When your cortisol level is constantly high, your cells develop a kind of insulin resistance and results in inflammation. This makes it difficult for the body to gain access to fat, which it needs to burn for energy. Over doing steady state cardio further increases the cortisol levels, which further signals the body to store fat.

Additionally, high cortisol levels leave you susceptible to sugar cravings so as to replace the depleted neurotransmitter serotonin. This means you might constantly be feasting on high-sugar foods, making your cardio exercises irrelevant.

Here’s The Solution

So you see that cardio isn’t the ideal solution for achieving your weight loss goals. Here are a few tips to help you lose weight more efficiently:

· Even if you do include some cardio in your daily workout routine, make sure you avoid steady-state cardio. For effective weight loss, opt for high-intensity variations like circuit training, sprints, etc.

· Include some strength training into your daily workouts for an overall improvement in physique.

· Combine exercising with a healthy diet and stress management techniques so as to balance everything.

Chris Ruden has his bachelor’s degree in Exercise Science and Health Promotion and is an entrepreneur, model, and motivational speaker. Despite his congenital birth defect leaving him with only two fingers on his left hand and a shorter left arm, he is an Elite Powerlifter that has type 1 diabetes and works on an insulin pump. He has broken a number of state “powerlifting” records in Texas and Florida and he is showing the world that LIMITATIONS ARE SELF IMPOSED! You can follow him on Instagram and Facebook.